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Members of the military with a rank below that of commissioned officer constitute a vital portion of the overall strength and mobility of an armed force. RAND research on enlisted military personnel provides objective analysis and recommendations to military leaders and civilian policymakers regarding such issues as health care, diversity and quality of recruits, reenlistment behavior, personnel management, family issues, and the effects of multiple deployments.

In their own words, six junior soldiers describe why they joined the U.S. Army, their joys and frustrations, and what they hope the future brings. These stories offer lessons for policymakers, Army leaders and recruiters, and anyone considering a career in the Army.

Deployments are a key aspect of U.S. military service. Since 9/11, 2.77 million service members have served on 5.4 million deployments. Accrued time deployed is a relevant metric for measuring military experience, but also for measuring service member and family well-being.

Explore Enlisted Personnel

The author analyzes first-term attrition, using administrative data for all accessions across four military service branches in fiscal years 2002 through 2013 to show what characteristics predict attrition across the first 36 months of service.

Explores concerns at the Air Force Recruiting Service regarding an imbalance in workloads among their enlisted accessions recruiters, which could negatively influence both recruiter morale and aggregate production of high-quality recruits.

U.S. Army company leaders have long been recognized as overworked. This report is intended to help the Army identify ways to reduce and manage the time burdens on Active Component company leaders in garrison by examining these leaders' time burdens.

The U.S. Army recognizes that the recruiting environment has a significant impact on its ability to recruit. This report presents a forecasting model that measures recruiting difficulty to forecast a difficult or easy recruiting environment.

RAND serves as an objective source of facts that help inform the world's most pressing policy debates. When decisions are based on the best evidence, that's when public policy can have a positive impact on people's lives. We're highlighting the 10 research projects that RAND.org readers found most engaging this year.

This issue spotlights RAND's research on how providers can better meet the health care needs of veterans; life as a U.S. Army private; and Air Force efforts to improve leadership opportunities for women.

History records the names of generals, not of the privates filling out supply forms, cleaning out trucks, or huffing through another training exercise. But those privates keep the U.S. Army running. RAND research provides their unfiltered take on life in the ranks.

The primary mission of U.S. Army noncommissioned officers is to lead and mentor soldiers. But research has placed little emphasis on how to value their experience. Knowing how NCOs influence soldiers can help the Army maintain or improve leadership quality and soldier performance and reduce personnel costs.

The project sought to enhance efficient use of Army recruiting resources and policies by optimizing required resource levels and mix to support recruiting under varying recruiting requirements and environments and recruit eligibility policies.

This report provides a preliminary evaluation effort of the implementation of the physical tests and standards being adopted by the U.S. Air Force Tactical Air Control Party and Air Liaison Officer career fields.

To help the Army select recruits more likely to complete their first term and avoid adverse outcomes, this report describes a tool that estimates how changes in a variety of recruit characteristics affect first-term outcomes and costs to the Army.

The U.S. Army wants to improve its understanding of soldiers' motivations to enlist, and how the reality of Army life matches up with expectations. Interviews with soldiers ranked E-1 to E-4 offer a rich portrayal of life as a private.

Now that all positions in the Air Force are open to women, USAF leadership is looking for ways to better integrate them during basic training. There are five options that could increase gender-integrated training, but the best solution will depend on USAF priorities.

As ground combat jobs transition to include women, efforts to improve the recruitment process are expanding. Having more female recruiters could help, as could creating outreach materials that counter stereotypes and highlight the roles of women in the military.

This analysis modeled the Army's ability to increase ("regenerate") its active component end strength over five years -- starting from end strengths of 450,000 and 420,000 -- to provide the number of deployable troops available in 2010.

This analysis modeled the Army's ability to increase ("regenerate") its active component end strength over five years -- starting from end strengths of 450,000 and 420,000 -- to provide the number of deployable troops available in 2010.

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